Town. Iron Age settlement; established as 'Civitas' by the Romans; Cathedral see of the Bishop of Leicester until the 9th century when it became a Danish borough. It was the site of the first Parliament called by Simon de Montfort, in 1265, and an early centre of the dissenting tradition; from the 18th century it was dependent on the hosiery and boot and shoe trades for its wealth.

Large; site of a Roman villa; church with Norman remains and a Saxon cross; Rothley Temple, home of the Babington family from the 15th to 19th century, was the birthplace of the poet and historian Lord Macauley (1800-59).